Tom (aka Toto) says:- We are a friendly group of like minded individuals with a broad interest and knowledge of all things model railway related. We cover all scales, era's and general disciplines. We welcome all people regardless of their experience or ability. Pop in for a browse and if you like what you see then climb abourd.

  Website of husband and wife Robin and Chris Pulham. Full of lots of photos of Robins personal modelling with some very arty paint finishes. An ideal site to visit for inspiration particularly if you want to encourage your wife to do those paint jobs that you have yet to get around to.

  This company produces a very wide range of high quality water slide transfers and promote themselves as the livery people (a description that I would not argue with). Fox Transfers Ltd, Unit 5 Priory Business Park, Wistow Road, Kibworth, Leicestershire, LE8 0RX. Tel 0116 319 4950.

  This company produces a growing range of high quality water slide transfers particularly producing dedicated small sheets for batches of similar vehicles. For example they have dedicated sheets for many of the bolster wagons in my range. Also custom transfers at very competitive prices.

  Squires Model & Craft Tools, 100 London Road, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 1DD, Telephone 01243 842424, Fax 01243 842525. They have built their Business & order system around an excellent printed catalogue. Give them a ring and ask them to send you a free catalogue (ask for tools & materials catalogue as they also do art & craft materials catalogue etc). Once you have got a catalogue you will see how good a system it is and how good a firm Squires are to deal with. Also they have an excelent sales stand at shows.

  Roger has also built a web site to complement the catalogues. This is very clever and alows you to select sections of the catalogue to download as pdf pages so that you can view them or print them off as you wish. Visit the web site or use sales@squirestools.com to order a catalogue.

  The Model Shop Directory is a very good site for finding all sorts of specialist suppliers and producers. Despite the name most of the listings are not physical high street model shops. When you first visit this site try navigating by selecting, Suppliers A-Z - Suppliers Listed by Description - 7mm Scale.

  All my locomotive and brake van kits include appropriate cast figures supplied unpainted. Carole Boisclair painted for me a set of these figures & I think they are absolutely beautiful.

  Additional pleasure can be gained by researching the prototype history of the railway you are modelling or the kit you are building. The line societies and good reference books are a rich source of information.

  The GER Society caters for those who are interested in the railways of East Anglia from their building to the present day. They publish information on subjects as diverse as the opening of the Wisbech & Upwell tramway and the building of the Channel Tunnel rail link.

  The NERA is also an excellent starting point for those interested in the railways of this area.

  The senior society in Britain for the collection and exchange of information for historians and modellers of the railways of the British Isles.

  Bob carries extensive stocks of a wide range of specialist railway books and is very knowledgeable about much of their contents. He is very friendly and the sort of bloke that if you told him you was building an LNER J15 kit and wanted a book with reference photos. He would be able to recommend one or at least check that the book would be suitable before taking your money.

  Battery power and radio control are subjects that a number of customers have asked me about. I have absolutely no personal experience or knowledge in this area.

  Fortunately Canadian customer Robert P Langlois has successfully fitted it into a number of my loco kits. He has written a very comprehensive article for a North American Journal and has kindly made it available as a pdf. If you are interested in battery power or radio control then this is your starting point.

Download Zen & the Art of Training by Robert P. Langlois

  Essex customer, Richard Gawler, fitted battery power radio control to a J15 in 2023. Richards approach and the equipment he used was different to Robert P Langlois build. Richard also very kindly produced a write up as a downloadable pdf.